• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

New-look Suns to face Magic

Dec 12, 2008 - 11:34 AM Orlando (17-5) at Phoenix (13-10) 9:00 p.m. EST

PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Steve Nash looks around and barely recognizes the players on the Phoenix Suns team that he led to the playoffs the past few seasons.

Nash and the Suns will be welcoming two new players, Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley, when they face the Orlando Magic on Friday.

Phoenix pulled off a trade on Wednesday, sending forward Boris Diaw and guards Raja Bell and Sean Singletary to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Richardson and Dudley.

Diaw, for his part, thinks the club is worse off.

"We went from a winning team that was the most exciting team in the league to a half-winning team that wasn't exciting at all," Diaw said.

Steve Kerr took over as general manager before last season and has been reshaping the club since, trading Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal last season, pushing popular coach Mike D'Antoni out the door last summer and sending away Diaw and Bell- two key pieces of the Suns' success.

Nash, who won two MVP awards while guiding D'Antoni's high-scoring attack and helped push Phoenix past 50 wins four years in a row and past 60 twice, was not happy about the deal.

"I have a hard time committing to this as a business," said Nash, who was especially close to Bell. "I take this personally and I take my career home with me. I care about my teammates, so when you lose two of your best friends on the team, suddenly it's hard."

Richardson is a scorer who demands the ball and is averaging 18.7 points per game.

The Magic, who are in the midst of a five-game road trip, will be searching for their fifth straight win after scratching out a 109-108 victory at Portland on Tuesday when Hedo Turkoglu banked in a 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds remaining on the clock.

Orlando shot 14-of-27 from 3-point range in the contest, including 6-of-9 by Rashard Lewis, who led the way with 27 points and nine rebounds.